Shloimy wiped the sweat off his brow and took another drink. He figured that it would take another half hour until they would reach the power station. The old camp bus was full to capacity and too antiquated for such amenities as air conditioning.
The campers were getting restless and bored, having spent the first hour of the drive singing camp songs. Shloimy knew that he’d have to think of something to distract the kids from the heat and boredom for the next half an hour. They were disappointed enough when they had discovered that instead of going white-water rafting, they were going to tour a power station. The explanation that thunderstorms were predicted for that afternoon fell upon deaf ears. Couldn’t the camp director have found an alternate excursion that was a bit more exciting instead of sending them on a two hour bus ride to an electricity plant?
Shloimy knew that one of the keys to running a successful camp is to keep the campers busy: too busy to argue, too busy to fight, too busy to get bored or make trouble. He thought of what he could do to capture the boys’ interest, something meaningful.
“Attention alleh mentshen!” Shloimy announced in his booming voice. “The boys who can answer some parsha questions will win competition points for their bunk! Listen carefully, and if you think you know the answer wave your camp hat high! I’ll give each group a turn to answer first.”
The bus began to quiet down as many strained their ears to hear the first question.
“This week’s Parsha, Massei, starts out by listing the travel stops that the Jewish people made during the forty years in the desert. Starting with bunk Alef: How many places are mentioned?”
A flurry of hats appeared above the high seats. Shloimy picked one of the waving caps.
“Mottel, what’s the answer?”
“Forty-two!”
“Excellent! One point for Alef! Bunk Beis: On which date did the Jews leave from Ramses in Mitzrayim?”
A few hats went up. He called on one hat waver. “Leibel?”
“The fifteenth of Nissan.”
“Good answer! One point for Beis.”
Shloimy continued the quiz until the bus pulled up to its destination. Not all of the questions had been answered. “Okay, the quiz is on hold. If anyone thinks of the answer to any of the unanswered questions, tell it to me privately on the way back, and I’ll credit your bunk with a point.”
Shloimy had noticed that the boys had easily answered the questions that involved straight Chumash and Rashi. They did not however seem to be aware of the Chassidishe insights on those p’sukim. Questions like “Why are the resting stops called travels instead of stops?” or “Why is ‘travels’ plural if it only took the first journey to get out of Mitzrayim?” were beyond them. Shloimy resolved to mention this to the learning director; maybe he could include the Chassidishe Parsha in the learning program.
As the boys got off the bus and went bunk by bunk into the power station, the sky was getting darker, and the air was getting heavier. Shloimy could even detect a distant rumble of thunder. It hadn’t been a bad idea after all to exchange white-water rafting for an indoor trip. Hopefully the campers would think so too and maybe the power plant would even turn out to be interesting.
By the end of the hour-long tour, the boys were so fascinated that they kept the guide an extra half hour answering their questions. He was happy to comply and appreciated their interest. Afterwards, the boys were free to look at the explanatory exhibits in the large entrance foyer.
One of the older campers, Avremy, came over to Shloimy. “Can I talk to you about the quiz now?” he asked.
“Sure! Did you figure out some answers?”
“Well, as the man was telling us about how the power plant sends electricity to transfer stations, where the electricity is either boosted or weakened, and then sent to the next transfer station and so on, until it reaches your house, it gave me an idea how to answer your Parsha questions.”
“Really?”
“Well, you asked why the Torah says ‘These are the travels of B’nei Yisroel with which they went out of Mitzrayim.’ ‘Travels’ is used rather than rest-stops, because just like by the electricity transfer station, even though there is a purpose in the electricity being there, it is important to send it on to the next part of the journey. The same with the Jews in the desert: although each stop was important, it was not the end of the journey.”
“Very good, Avremy!”
“I was thinking…”
“What were you thinking, Avremy?”
“Well, I heard once that the Baal Shem Tov said that each Jew goes through forty-two spiritual journeys. Maybe there’s a message here; that each time you get somewhere, you still have another journey ahead.”
“Exactly, and the Rebbe explains that no matter how high you’ve reached, there’s still higher to go.”
“But I still don’t know the answer to the other question: Why does the Pasuk refer to ‘travels’ from Mitzrayim in plural?”
“It’s because each time you get to a new level, you have left behind your Mitzrayim, but now the new level is like Mitzrayim for you, so each of the journeys is truly an exit from Mitzrayim.”
“I think I get it. So if I work on learning Chumash of Chitas regularly and I succeed, I shouldn’t just stop at that, but try to learn Tanya of Chitas next, and when that becomes comfortable, it’s time to add one perek Rambam. Is that the message?”
“Something like that. One more point, though. The Rebbe points out that even the stops which did not seem to turn out well were part of the journey to the ultimate goal. In life, too, sometimes we seem to be going backwards. That too is part of the journey forward, so don’t give up; keep on going.”
“I suppose it’s like the electric transfer stations; the electricity has to keep moving on, whether the voltage is increased or decreased at that particular station, until it gets to its ultimate destination.”
“And may we get to ours, speedily!” cried Shloimy. “The bus is about to leave!!”
And they ran through the rain and jumped onto the bus, ready for the next part of the journey.
The lesson in the fictional story above is based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. 23, pp. 224-228.